A source told ESPN New York’s Wallace Matthews this afternoon that the Yankees were closing in on an agreement with Ichiro Suzuki but not quite there.

Now the two sides have fully closed the gap.

According to Jon Heyman of CBS Sports, the Yankees and Ichiro officially inked a two-year, $13 million contract on Wednesday evening. It’s only pending a physical, which should go smoothly.

Ichiro batted .322/.340/.454 with five home runs, 27 RBI and 14 stolen bases in 67 games this past season for New York after coming over in a late-July trade from the Mariners. He’s a .322/.365/.419 career hitter in the major leagues.

The 39-year-old will start in right field and bat primarily at leadoff for the Bombers in 2013.

Yankee fans are happy ! The guy brings a Gold Glove, .300 average, speed on the bases, and a pro locker room attitude.When the Yankees got him last year, the Mariner fans were hating big time.SO all he did was play All-Star ball for the rest of the season. Love it. Domo argiato. !

This seems like a great deal for the Yankees. It would be awesome to see Ichiro get to 3K hits. If he came to the US when he was 20 or 21 we would be talking about getting to 4K hits or possibly Pete Rose’s hits record.

Wonder if he lives in Manhattan or across the Hudson in Jersey? Both have excellent Japanese food. Both cost a bundle to live in. Soon it will cost $10 just to cross a Hudson River bridge or tunnel. Just won’t let you be: no-NO!